The five best metal shows in Denver in July

Established in part by Kevin Lyman, one of the founders of the Warped Tour, this traveling showcase features a stacked lineup that caters to metal fans, with side activities for your downtime throughout the day. With a roster including acts as diverse as Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Children of Bodom, Mastodon and Job for a Cowboy, among others, Mayhem offers a fine slice of metal from across the genre's spectrum. Mayhem lets you see all these acts in one place without going broke in the process.

A more apt name for Every Time I Die might be "Every Time I Turn Around I Need a New Bassist." Since forming in 1998, the Buffalo-based outfit has gone through a string of four-stringers with an almost predictable frequency that could rival Spinal Tap and its infinite and seemingly inexhaustible pursuit of a permanent drummer. Fortunately, the low-end isn't really the centerpiece here, but more like a weight-bearing pillar propping up the intensity of act's metalcore savagery, Keith Buckley's eviscerating vocals and the torrent of relentless riffs. Catch Every Time I Die on this stop of the Allstars Tour with Chelsea Grin, Veil of Maya, Terror and many more acts.

Since its 1995 inception, Shai Hulud has blurred the line between hardcore and metal. Along the way, the band has helped to establish and somewhat define the elements of what later came to be called metalcore. Shai Hulud's influence can be heard in later bands playing music in a similar vein such as Unearth, Silverstein and As I Lay Dying, among others. Shai Halud is currently touring in support of its latest release, Reach Beyond the Sun, the band's fourth full-length.

"Dixie" Dave Collins started this band in 1997 while still a member of the pioneering and influential sludge-metal band Buzzov*en. The name kind of says it all, but while Weedeater's shows seem to incite less violence than Buzzov*en's did at its peak, the former's riffs sound more menacing and gargantuan by comparison. It's also like Dave "Shep" Shepherd is playing in the same register on guitar as Collins does on bass. Keith "Keko" Kirkum's highly expressive drumming also drives and accents the music like a huge steam engine running out of control until it damn well feels like stopping.

Wilmington, North Carolina's ASG started as All Systems Go in 2001 but changed to the three initials to head off any possible conflict with another band with the same moniker. Its music is that kind of sludge/stoner rock akin to that of Fu Manchu and Clutch but with a bit more aggression and all the groove. Over the course of the last decade, ASG has a handful of releases under its belt and it has made connections in that loose affiliation of like-minded bands from the American Southeast like Baroness, Torche, Weedeater and Kylesa, whose Philip Cope recorded ASG's split with Black Tusk. The group's debut release on Relapse, 2013's Blood Drive, finds the band further exploring a fusion of 70s hard rock psychedelia and blues-based metal.

Get the Music Newsletter

Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.